Members of the Pentagon press corps walk out of the Pentagon as a group after turning in their press credentials on Oct. 15. On Thursday, The New York Times sued the Defense Department and Secretary Pete Hegseth over its new media policy.
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The New York Times sued Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday over the Pentagon’s new policy that requires media outlets to pledge not to gather information unless defense officials formally authorize its release.
That policy, unveiled in September, includes a ban on credentialed journalists reporting even unclassified material that isn’t expressly approved for public consumption by Defense Department brass. The Times said the Pentagon policy represents an attempt to force reporters to rely solely upon officials for news involving the military and would unlawfully permit their punishment for failing to do so.
The Times — and NPR — are among the organizations that chose to give up their press passes rather than agree to the policy.
In addition to the Defense Department and Hegseth, the lawsuit names Sean Parnell, the chief Pentagon spokesperson, as a defendant. “We are aware of the New York Times lawsuit and look forward to addressing these arguments in court,” Parnell said in a statement.
Despite surrendering their Pentagon credentials, news organizations have been aggressively reporting on military action, including U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites and Venezuelan vessels, breaking news that contradicts official accounts.
Most recently, an inspector general has found that Hegseth’s private Signal chats with senior government officials about pending U.S. airstrikes in Yemen could have placed American troops in harm’s way. The chats were first revealed by The Atlantic’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, whose number was mistakenly added to the chat. (NPR CEO Katherine Maher is the chairperson of the board of directors of the Signal Foundation, which oversees Signal.)
In its court documents, the Times is arguing that Hegseth’s moves violate constitutional protections for free speech and freedom of the press.
“It is exactly the type of speech and press-restrictive scheme that the Supreme Court and D.C. Circuit have recognized violates the First Amendment,” states the brief. “The Policy abandons scrutiny by independent news organizations for the public’s benefit.“
The paper also alleges that the Pentagon violated its reporters’ constitutionally protected rights to due process by making a decision on press passes out of the blue and without any path to appeal.
In its filings, the Times legal team invokes a decision from Trump’s first term, in which the White House revoked then-Playboy reporter Brian Karem’s permanent press pass over his coverage. A federal judge’s ruling forced the administration to rescind that decision. The White House also had to return the pass of then-CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta.
The restrictions Hegseth has put in place parallel those taken throughout the second Trump administration against news outlets whose coverage it opposes. Earlier this week, the White House posted online a “media bias offender tipline,” inviting tips from the public about news coverage critical of the administration.
The New York Times is being represented by the noted free-speech litigator Theodore J. Boutrous. He is among the lawyers representing NPR in its suit against the White House over Trump’s executive order barring all federal subsidies for NPR and PBS. A key hearing in that case is to be held Thursday afternoon in Washington, D.C.
In May, Hegseth revealed new rules limiting reporters’ ability to move through many parts of the Pentagon without a formally designated escort — a change that broke years of tradition spanning Democratic and Republican administrations.
Then, in September, came the policy demanding that news organizations sign an acknowledgment they would not disclose — or even seek — unauthorized material. Hegseth posted on social media, “The ‘press’ does not run the Pentagon — the people do.”
Hegseth is a veteran and former Fox News host who came to President Trump’s attention through his television presence. Fox was among the outlets whose defense correspondents banded together to object to the policy — and who left the building as a result.
Neil Wallace signals that the Fox News staff has cleared the contents of their broadcast booth in the press area of the Pentagon on Oct. 15 in Washington.
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“The Pentagon’s press access policy is unlawful because it gives government officials unchecked power over who gets a credential and who doesn’t, something the First Amendment prohibits,” Gabe Rottman, vice president of policy at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said in a statement. “The public needs independent journalism and the reporters who deliver it back in the Pentagon at a time of heightened scrutiny of the Department’s actions.”
This week, the Pentagon formally welcomed a new press corps willing to abide by its policy — correspondents and outlets that embrace a pro-Trump tilt or peddle conspiracy theories.
“We’re glad to have you,” Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson told the newcomers on Tuesday. “Legacy media chose to self-deport from this building. And if you look at the numbers, it’s pretty clear why no one followed them. National trust in these mainstream media outlets has cratered to 28 percent, the lowest ever recorded. The American people don’t trust these propagandists because they stopped telling the truth.”
Among the new arrivals: the far-right political activist Laura Loomer, who often has Trump’s ear; the Gateway Pundit, which declared bankruptcy to avoid liability for judgment in defamation suits; and LindellTV, backed by MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, who supported Trump’s spurious claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential elections.
Several of the new arrivals posted separate photos on social media claiming they had been told they had been given the former Pentagon office of a Washington Post reporter. At least one corrected himself after being mocked online, saying he had been given mistaken information. He did not specify whether that incorrect information came from Pentagon officials.
Disclosure: This story was reported and written by NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik. It was edited by Deputy Business Editor Emily Kopp and Managing Editors Gerry Holmes and Vickie Walton-James. Under NPR’s protocol for reporting on itself, no NPR corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was posted publicly.
